The word, “photography”, was first used in 1839. It comes from the Greek words that mean “to write with light”. But photography could only give people static pictures. So scientists were trying hard to find ways to make pictures that can move. They made lots of experiments, but failed again and again. It was Eadweard Muybridge who finally succeeded. He was the first photographer to try this successfully. But how did he make it? It was an interesting story.

Back in 1872, people didn’t know exactly (确切地) whether all four of a horse’s hooves (蹄) left the ground at the same time when it was running. A gentleman called Leland Stanford made a bet with his friend about it. Most people believed that a horse always had one hoof on the ground, or it would fall over. But Stanford didn’t think so.

At that time, it was hard to know who could win the bet, because a horse’s legs move so fast that it is impossible to tell just by looking. So they needed a way to record the movement of a running horse. Then Stanford offered $25,000 to the famous photographer, Muybridge, to help find the answer. In the beginning, Muybridge failed to get clear images, but he didn’t give up. He continued to improve his cameras. In 1878, after many experiments, he managed to get a sequence (连续) of 12 photos. One of them clearly showed that all four of the horse’s hooves were off the ground at the same time. And when the photos moved fast, people could see a horse running.

Though is usually considered as the person who created the first movie in 1889, it was the work of Eadweard Muybridge and the bet that led to Edison’s invention.

53. The underlined word “static” in Paragraph 1 most probably means _______.

A. pretty　　　　　　　　　　　 B. dark　　　　　　　　　　　　 C. moving　　　　　　　　　 D. still

54. What did Leland Stanford make a bet with his friend about?

　 A. Whose horse ran faster.

　 B. whether a horse would fall over while running.

　 C. whether it was possible for scientists to make moving pictures.

　 D.Whether a horse’s hooves all left the ground at the same time while running.

55. Muybridge finally found the exact answer to the bet in _______.

　 A. 1839　　 　　　　　　　　 B. 1872 　　　　　　　　　　 C. 1878　　 　　　　　　 D. 1889

56. The passage mainly tells us _______.

　 A. that Thomas Edison created the first movie .

　 B. that Eadweard Muybridge created the first static pictures

　 C. how photography helped people know more about animals

　 D. how Eadweard Muybridge got pictures of motion (移动) successfully

阅读理解训练

　　Scientists think that a game like bowing was played in Egypt thousands of years ago.

　　Toys that look like a ball and bowling pins were found buried with a child who died around 5200 B. C.

　　People who study history know that the game was popular in Germany around 200~300 A. D. It was played by people in some churches in order to show that they were good Christians. When people bowled poorly, they had to go to church more often.

　　The first bowling place built inside a building opened in England in 1455. Then the game was taken to the United States where most people played it outside.

　　During the 1800s, many people in the United States began to bowl for money, so several cities made the game illegal. Many people kept on bowling illegally. A group named the American Bowling Congress (ABC) began around 1900. The job of this group was to clean up bowling and make it a gentlemen's game again.

　　At this time, the game was mostly played by men. If women played, they hung a curtain up so that the men were not able to see them.

　　Then, in 1916, a woman's group named the Women's International Bowling Congress (WIBC) made a point of showing that the game was fine for both men and women.

1．In which country did poor bowlers have to go to church more often?

[　　]

2．In the United States during the 1800s, ________.

[　　]

A．many people bowled for money

B．women never bowled

C．people discovered bowling

D．all of the above

3．Who was probably in the American Bowling Congress?

[　　]

A．People who bet money on bowling.

B．People who liked bowling.

C．People who bowled in church.

D．All of the above.

4．When did the Women's International Bowling Congress begin?

[　　]

5．Before 1916, what did women probably do when they bowled?

[　　]